What Tulum’s First November Numbers Say About the Coming High Season?

Tulum hotel occupancy reached 58.3 percent in the week of October 31 to November 6, according to the Quintana Roo tourism secretariat, 16.2 points above the 42.1 percent recorded in the same weekly period in late September.

Vacation rentals in the municipality ran at 46 percent over the same seven days.

This is the first full reading of November, the month the hotel sector spent the autumn naming as the start of its recovery. The curve is now pointing up. The same report also shows how far the destination still has to climb before the winter high season peaks, with roughly four in 10 hotel rooms in Tulum still unsold.

Tulum hotel occupancy gains 16 points since late September

The secretariat's weekly report, built on data from the Sistema de Información Turística de Quintana Roo, counts 239 hotels and 11,993 rooms in Tulum. At 58.3 percent, about 5,000 of those rooms went unsold on an average night of the week, by our calculation.

The direction is the clearer part of the story. The state system put Tulum at 42.3 percent for September 19 to 25 and at 42.1 percent for September 26 to October 2, two flat weeks at the bottom of the low season. Five weeks later, the destination sits close to where it stood in mid-April, when the municipal tourism office's copy of the state report showed 59.5 percent for April 11 to 17, and above the 53.2 percent recorded for April 25 to May 1.

The benchmark against which the season will be judged is higher. For the first two weeks of November 2025, the state system reported 71.3 percent for Tulum, and 73.5 percent for November 8 to 14 alone, according to figures published by Expansión last December. Those windows do not align exactly with this year's first week, so the gap serves as a reference point rather than a like-for-like comparison.

Vacation rentals hold at 46 percent on a smaller active base

The report counts 3,554 active vacation rental properties in Tulum, with average occupancy of 46 percent, an average stay of five nights, and an average nightly rate of 2,400 pesos.

The occupancy figure has held steady across the reports we reviewed. The same weekly series showed 46 percent on April 10 and again on May 1. The count of listings it treats as active has moved instead. On May 1, that figure was 6,391, which puts the current count 2,837 properties lower, a reduction of about 44 percent on our arithmetic. The report does not say whether those units left the market, paused for the low season, or dropped out under a change in how listings are tracked.

Hotels, at 58.3 percent, ran 12 points ahead of rentals for the week.

Service providers see more people at the Jaguar Park and on the beaches

On the ground, the people who work the visitor trade describe a warmer week than the percentages suggest. Speaking to Por Esto, service providers Javier Rodríguez and Estefany España said they are seeing more visitors on the beaches, in the hotel zone, and at the Parque del Jaguar, and both expect the recovery to firm up ahead of the winter season.

Rodríguez tied the increase at the park to the end of its entrance fee. "Empieza a haber bastante gente," he said. A lot of people are starting to come.

Since July 20, Mexican visitors have been able to enter the Parque del Jaguar free of charge, a measure that President Claudia Sheinbaum announced on July 17 as part of the federal Plan Tulum Renace. Foreign visitors still pay a park fee, and the archaeological zone inside the park keeps its own ticket. Separately, two free access points inside the park lead to five public beaches open to residents, Mexican tourists, and international visitors every day of the year, as The Tulum Times reported when they opened.

Federal tourism secretary Josefina Rodríguez Zamora also said in July that a nighttime lighting experience would return to the archaeological zone in November, adding an evening visit to the site.

Nightlife demand and the bad publicity argument

A third provider, who was not named, told Por Esto that winter brings a wave of visitors who come for parties and nightlife. That calendar is already filling. Zamna Tulum's 10th anniversary program runs into early January, with Amnesia's first night in Tulum on January 2 and Anyma's ÆDEN on January 4.

The same provider offered a blunter read on the year's headlines. Tulum has absorbed months of negative coverage, the provider said, and it may have ultimately worked in the destination's favor.

La mala publicidad al final fue publicidad.

Bad publicity turned out to be publicity after all. It is one operator's view, and the weekly reports between now and December will test it.

Seventy-four arrivals and departures at Tulum International Airport

Tulum International Airport recorded 74 air movements during the week, domestic and international arrivals and departures combined, according to the state report. That is in line with the 70 movements reported by the municipal tourism office for the week of April 25 to May 1.

The count measures aircraft rather than passengers, so it says nothing on its own about how full those flights were.

November 7 to 13 sets up the comparison with last year

The next weekly cut, covering November 7 to 13, is the first that can be set against an almost identical window from 2025, November 8 to 14, when Tulum reached 73.5 percent. If the providers at Jaguar Park are reading the direction correctly, that report will show there. The state secretariat publishes it next week.

Are you seeing more visitors on Tulum's beaches and at the Jaguar Park this November than you did in October? Join the conversation and share your perspective with us on Instagram and Facebook at @thetulumtimes.